From Ken Rosenthal:
"A trade between the Orioles and Mariners is only one player away from completion, major-league sources say, but that one player could be right-hander Chris Tillman, a 19-year-old that the M's would prefer to retain."

Outfielder Adam Jones would be the centerpiece of the deal for the Orioles, and left-handed reliever George Sherrill and 17-year-old shortstop Carlos Triunfel are among the other players under discussion." ...-Dr. O

MacPhail says trade talks are not "heating up", and gives the last week of January as a deadline for any deals. You statheads might be interested in this thread about who the Ms should give up.
Also, in non-trade news, Weiters got an invitation to spring training, as expected. ...-zk

Ken Rosenthal and Jason Churchill are suggesting that trade rumors aren't over for Bedard.

Rosenthal suggests the Ms have offered Adam Jones as their keystone and "also are willing to include catcher Jeff Clement and third baseman Matt Tuiasosopo, sources say. The Orioles, however, might prefer a choice of left-hander Tony Butler, right-hander Chris Tillman and 17-year-old shortstop Carlos Triunfel." This is fantastic news, in my opinion. It means that MacPhail's gambit worked, and the Mariners may finally be ready to pull the trigger. Matt Tuiasosopo, whose name I think is both funny and as annoying to type as M-i-ss-i-ss-i-pp-i, would be fine in that deal, but I'd have to agree with these 'sources' - if there are any, and whomever they are - who would prefer other options. Especially Carlos Triunfel and Chris Tillman, who are supposed to be other diamond prospects and are #3 and #2 in their system according to BP.

Now, of course the Os would like Brandon Morrow, who could turn out to be pretty fantastic (insert hypotheticals here), but a combination of George Sherrill, Triunfel, or Tillman would be a bounty and then some.

Jason Churchill has this to say about a deal for Bedard: "If the Mariners send Jones, Triunfel and Sherrill to Baltimore and the return is simply Erik Bedard without Brian Roberts or other valuable pieces, the Soriano-Ramirez trade will be buried by this monster of a mistake.

"Protecting Morrow as if he's a sure thing is ridiculous. Refusing to include him in the deal as if he's got a good chance to be a frontline starter in 2008 is irresponsible."

Ending by saying, "But, what else is new? This is not a smart baseball team and this would be yet another blunder as they continue to believe they were an 88-win team last year and are building on the team as a result."

Could there be more angst ridden fans then Os fans? Or close to it? That would be...I mean, that's bordering on Royals fan territory right there.